Not Necessarily Good News

On the one hand, President Obama has requested additional loan guarantees for nuclear power plants. On the other hand, he also used yesterday's subsidies as an excuse to squeeze more from the financial industry:

So I supported the last administration’s efforts to create the financial rescue program.  And when we took the program over, we made it more transparent and accountable.  As a result, the markets are now stabilized, and we have recovered most of the money we spent on the banks.

To recover the rest, I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks.  I know Wall Street isn’t keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.

I'm reminded of the following quote from “Armaments Race,” by Arthur C. Clarke (a story in Tales from the White Hart):

“All the better for you. Sol's come over here to apply his talents to the British film industry.”

“There is a British film. industry?” said Solly anxiously. “No one seemed very sure round the studio.”

“Sure there is. It's in a very flourishing condition, too. The Government piles on an entertainments tax that drives it to bankruptcy, then keeps it alive with whacking big grants. That's the way we do things in this country.…

What we have here is a squeegee government analogous to the squeegee men who used to infest parts of Manhattan. The squeegee men would “clean” a car's windshield while the car stopped at a light and then demand money from the car's occupants. The squeegee government will “rescue” businesses and then demand money from the industry.